Tag: Hooks

CROSBY HOOK HOIST INSPECTION

TAKE THE CROSBY QUIZ

So you think you know how to inspect a hoist hook? Prove it. Take the Crosby Quiz and find out if you’re a pro at inspecting hooks for hoisting, or if you should get some more training.

It’s important to know what makes a hook no longer safe to use – there are a number of factors that contribute to this, and aren’t always glaringly obvious like it being broken or crooked.

Hooks that don’t pass inspection can cause the load to release, and this can result in damaged materials, injured workers or legal consequences. It’s important to conduct inspections before you use the sling – each time.

Take the Quiz from Crosby and find out if you’re a hook inspection pro, or if you have a bit more to learn.

Wear in the area indicated is limited to _____?

The Crosby Group.®

A. 5%

B. 10%

C. 15%

Correct!Wrong!

Wear in the circled areas is limited to _____ of cross sectional area?

The Crosby Group.®

A. 5%

B. 10%

C. 15%

Correct!Wrong!

Wear in the areas indicated are limited to _____ of cross sectional area?

Per ASME B30.10, you should remove any hook from service with a throat opening that's increased by _____. Or, as the manufacturer recommends.

The Crosby Group.®

A. 5%

B. 5%, not to exceed 1/4"

C. 15%

Correct!Wrong!

According to ASME B30.10, if a hook has _____ twist, remove the hook from service immediately.

Wow, are you a LEEA certified inspector?! You know exactly when a hoist hook should be removed from service.

83%

Wow, you're good - almost an expert! A little hands-on experience will help make you even better.

67%

So close - you're almost there! A little rigging, and you'll be an expert in no time.

50%

Not quite a fail, but not quite a pass either... You definitely have some work to do! You definitely don't have your ASME B30 standards memorized, but with a little work and training, you'll get there.

33%

Yikes... Only 2 correct. Hopefully you're not responsible for rigging or inspecting hoists!

17%

Only 1 right... Please tell us you're not a rigger. Time for training!

0%

None right. Head back to rigging school!

Share your Results:

ASME STANDARDS

There are ASME Standards that apply to rigging, and more specifically, hooks for lifting. Although they’re not law themselves, these standards are important to know as they’re directly quoted in Canadian legislation. Be sure to check the manufacturer warnings, usage instructions and other recommendations that may apply to the equipment you’re using.

Hercules SLR is part of the Hercules Group of Companies which offers a unique portfolio of businesses nationally with locations from coast to coast. Our companies provide an extensive coverage of products and services that support the success of a wide range of business sectors across Canada including the energy, oil & gas, manufacturing, construction, aerospace, infrastructure, utilities, oil and gas, mining and marine industries.

We have the ability to provide any solution your business or project will need. Call us today for more information. 1-877-461-4876. Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn for more news and upcoming events.

The operator of an overhead crane had been using a chain sling attached to the hook of the crane, and was setting it up into a single choker hitch to pick up and turn over the steel frame, that was lying horizontally on two sawhorses. The hook on the sling did not have a safety latch. The operator was standing between the load and another steel frame that was leaning vertically against the shop platform. The chain disconnected from the hook and the vertical steel frame fell towards him. He was crushed between the two steel frames. [Source: OSHA Case Histories – Rigging Accidents- Case History #7]

Possible ways to prevent this type of accident:

Ensure that workers do not place any part of their bodies into areas where they might become trapped when operating an overhead crane.

Ensure that the tools and equipment used are regularly inspected for defects and are replaced or repaired as needed.

Ensure that workers who use cranes are trained in rigging procedures.

Perform daily inspection of cranes using safety checklists to ensure that all equipment is working properly.

Ensure that the hook has a working safety latch, and if not, is moused.

Invest in tomorrow by practicing safety today! There are several organizations that are dedicated to maintaining and progressing safety standards. ASME has sustained safety standards for the Crane, Rigging, and Lifting industry. One of the most frequently referenced standards is ASME’s B30 Safety Standard for Cableways, Cranes, Derricks, Hoists, Hooks, Jacks, and Slings.

ASME B30 is referenced throughout Crosby literature and training material. The many volumes cover a wide variety of topics, but there is a consistency to the guidance offered. For example, latches are discussed repeatedly appearing in B30.2 (Overhead Cranes), B30.5 (Mobile Cranes), B30.10 (Hooks), B30.23 (Personnel Lifting), and others.

When it comes to the use of latches, B30.16 (Overhead Hoists) summarizes it perfectly:“Hooks shall be equipped with latches unless use of the latch creates a hazardous condition.”

Hercules is a proud partner and supplier of Crosby. If you need Crosby Hooks and hardware, give us a call.

Hercules SLR is part of the Hercules Group of Companies which offers a unique portfolio of businesses nationally with locations from coast to coast. Our companies provide an extensive coverage of products and services that support the success of a wide range of business sectors across Canada including the energy, oil & gas, manufacturing, construction, aerospace, infrastructure, utilities, oil and gas, mining and marine industries.

We have the ability to provide any solution your business or project will need. Call us today for more information. 1-877-461-4876. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook for more news and upcoming events.

Columbus McKinnon Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCO), a leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of motion control products, technologies and services for material handling, has expanded its portfolio of rigging attachments for synthetic slings to include CM Quick Connect Hooks, CM Flat Eye Rigging Hooks and a more comprehensive line of CM Weblok Assemblies.

“Columbus McKinnon is excited to offer a comprehensive line of American-made products to meet customer demand for safe and high-quality synthetic sling rigging attachments,” said Troy Raines, Global Chain and Rigging Product Engineering Manager. “We know customers are interested in protecting their investments and their people. We designed our rigging products to help them do just that, offering unique features that extend sling service life, while increasing operator safety and productivity.”

CM Quick Connect Hooks are a quick and easy way to add load attachment points to any synthetic sling by eliminating the need for additional hardware or assembly tools. Designed with a large, flat bearing surface and recessed area that together prevent the sling from bunching and shifting, Quick Connect Hooks allow synthetic slings to be used safely and at full capacity. In addition, to help ensure easy and proper rigging, Quick Connect Hooks are color coded to match common synthetic sling capacities.

Quick Connect Hooks

To promote longer sling life, CM Flat Eye Rigging Hooks provide a wide, smooth, load-bearing surface that won’t damage synthetic material. The flat eye opening also eliminates bunching and pinching of the synthetic sling to ensure it can be used at full capacity.

For maximum versatility, CM Weblok Assemblies allow for quick and safe sling attachment, whether you’re attaching chain and a master link to a synthetic sling or a synthetic sling to a synthetic sling. Available in two designs, including synthetic-to-attachment and synthetic-to-synthetic, CM Webloks feature either single or double load pin retention depending on your application’s safety requirements.

Learn more about these rigging attachements and read the original article here.
Order all your CM products at Hercules SLR!

Hercules SLR is part of the Hercules Group of Companies which offers a unique portfolio of businesses nationally with locations from coast to coast. Our companies provide an extensive coverage of products and services that support the success of a wide range of business sectors across Canada including the energy, oil & gas, manufacturing, construction, aerospace, infrastructure, utilities, oil and gas, mining and marine industries.

We have the ability to provide any solution your business or project will need. Call us today for more information. 1-877-461-4876. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter LinkedIn and Facebook for more news and upcoming events.

Rope and Sling Specialists Ltd. (RSS) UK donated lifting and rigging gear to the Shadwell Basin Outdoor Activity Centre in East London as the charity had a requirement to lift a 2.5t rescue support boat out of the River Thames onto land for maintenance and repair.

The activity centre is located next to the King Edward Memorial Park Foreshore (Wapping) site of the Thames Tideway Tunnel project, a major new sewer. RSS is a frequent visitor to the area, providing lifting equipment and periodic Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations (LOLER) inspections for the site, made up of the foreshore of the tidal Thames River next to King Edward Memorial Park and an area to the south.

The activity centre provides watersports and adventurous activities, including training courses, events, and sessions for groups, schools, and individuals throughout the year. It approached Tideway officials to ask for their help to lift a boat out of the water and back again once repairs were completed. To experienced lifting professionals the project was routine, but the charity wouldn’t have been able to execute it alone.

Graham Dawson, depot manager at RSS’s Aylesford facility, said: “When I heard about the centre’s requirement I had no hesitation in offering them our equipment free of charge. We spend a lot of time at the site and were able to time delivery with a three-week-long LOLER inspection, led by Steve Conroy, that we complete every three months. It was a great opportunity to combine important safety-related work with supporting a good community cause.”

RSS supplied two MOD 6 spreader beams at 2.5m and two 10t capacity, 12m-long duplex webbing boat slings. The boat was 7m long and 2.5m wide; a canoeist and slinger combined to pass the slings underneath the vessel whilst in the water before a three-axle Liebherr mobile crane, kindly donated by Emerson Crane Hire, already rigged with the top slings, raised it from the water.

Simon Steane, lifting operations manager for Tideway East, the section of the super sewer that runs from Chambers Wharf in Bermondsey to Abbey Mills, near Stratford, said: “Everyone involved was very happy to help the Shadwell Basin Outdoor Activity Centre with their boat lift. We use RSS for their fast response time, professionalism, and flexibility.”

Mike Wardle, centre director at the Shadwell Basin Outdoor Activity Centre, said: “Our assets like our safety boat enable us to have larger numbers of people accessing the river safely. We particularly target young people from low economic backgrounds and young people with disabilities. We also give young people a pathway to employment in sports coaching through our youth project. We raise funding to deliver the activities from grant giving bodies, organisations, business, and donations.”

He added: “Any company that assists us with their technical and professional skills is worth their weight in gold and for the staff and volunteers that impart their time at the charity a source of relief. The safety boat is now in dry dock and is undergoing repairs to the pro shaft as well as a deserved major service. A massive thank you to all who have helped our community!”

Hercules SLR is part of the Hercules Group of Companies which offers a unique portfolio of businesses nationally with locations from coast to coast. Our companies provide an extensive coverage of products and services that support the success of a wide range of business sectors across Canada including the energy, oil & gas, manufacturing, construction, aerospace, infrastructure, utilities, oil and gas, mining and marine industries.

We have the ability to provide any solution your business or project will need. Call us today for more information. 1-877-461-4876. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter LinkedIn and Facebook for more news and upcoming events.

In May, the skyline of downtown Winnipeg was changed significantly with the removal of the last tower crane on site at True North Square. Phase 1 of the project, involving Tower 1 at 242 Hargrave and Tower 2 at 225 Carlton, began in January 2016. The substantial construction effort required significant crane work, with construction handled by PCL Constructors Canada Inc. and the dismantling subcontracted to Sterling Crane.

“Tower 1 topped off its structural building form in December 2017, reaching its final height of 17 storeys, and subsequently its tower crane was removed in January 2018,” says True North Real Estate Development president Jim Ludlow. “Tower 2 topped off in March 2018 at 25 storeys and its tower crane was removed in May 2018. These milestones have had a visible impact on the skyline of downtown Winnipeg, so they have been very exciting and rewarding to observe as we progress towards a new cityscape.”PCL project manager David Enns says his company was responsible for the cast-in-place concrete structure on both towers. This involved supplying the concrete, the placing of concrete and rebar, form work, concrete pumping, and the installation of precast stairs and landings, and other material handling. For much of the heavy lifting, PCL utilized two cranes – a Liebherr 316 ECB12 and a Liebherr 316 ECH12.

“They were the best choices mostly because of the overlapping coverage,” Enns explains. “When we sized them, we made sure that it could accommodate the form work systems that we wanted to use. It was based on them working in conjunction with each other with the overlap in height and the jacking sequences, including how they would tie into the structure in order to be efficient.”

The way the cranes were staged required them to be tied into the structure, once the structure progressed past a certain height. When PCL began work on Tower 1, the timing of the construction of Tower 2 was not yet known for certain. In order to ensure that there was sufficient coverage for the full site, both tower cranes were tied to Tower 1.

“Both were top climbing tower cranes,” Enns says. “The biggest reason for that is because of the limited real estate that we had. We couldn’t afford to bring in big mobile cranes every time we needed to jack the cranes up as the structures progressed. They were able to climb themselves up, and then when we were done, they had the ability to climb themselves down prior to full dismantle.”

Preparation for the selection of tower cranes involved a detailed review to ensure the cranes had the right capacities to accommodate the required lifts and the size of the flyer cables, core forms and gang forms. They also had to reinforce the foundation walls around the tower cranes to prepare for the mobile crane load imposed on the structure during the dismantling of the tower cranes.

“It’s pretty common to see tower cranes with a couple of precast piles under the foundation, but for our tower cranes, our foundations were cast-in-place concrete raft slabs, with four caissons a piece to support them because they were freestanding fairly high right off the bat,” says Enns.

The key challenge for this job was limited space – city roads and the St. Mary’s Church bound PCL on three sides. With limited room to maneuver or stage materials, there was a constant focus on scheduling and sequencing to make sure that they had material delivered as needed.

“Otherwise, not only would the site get overrun, but the tower cranes would be so booked up that we couldn’t keep them focused on the high-priority activities,” Enns says. “They’d just be stuck moving non-critical material around all day and night.”

On both towers, Sterling Crane was subcontracted to dismantle PCL’s tower cranes following the construction.

Scott Baraschuk, branch manager for Sterling Crane in Winnipeg says that the dismantling was a very straight forward operation, however it did require the use of a very large mobile crane.

“Whatever they need, we’ll handle for them,” Baraschuk says. “In this scenario, it was the dismantling – to provide a mobile crane to dismantle their tower crane; just to provide a means of hoisting everything down. This particular one was the Liebherr LTM 1500 8.1. When we erected these towers a few years ago, the intent was to down climb the tower back to roughly 150 feet for dismantling. We now have the LTM 1500 available so I suggested we look at taking the tower at full height. This reduced the dismantle time by several days and eliminated the need to climb the tower crane down.”

The Liebherr LTM 1500 8.1 was utilized for the dismantling operations on both towers, however, it was used in two different configurations for each tower. During the dismantling for Tower 2, the crane was configured in a way that made it one of the tallest cranes ever seen in the Winnipeg skyline. Media coverage of the project claimed it was the single tallest crane ever used in the city, but Baraschuk can’t confirm that.

“I can’t say for certain, but it is certainly a contender,” he says. “It had roughly 380 feet of tip height in this configuration.”

It was an easy choice to use the Liebherr LTM 1500 for Tower 1, since it was locally available and easily capable of performing the job. Tower 2 had the same demands, but the flexibility of the 276-ft. telescopic boom was an added benefit given the site restrictions and their setup.

“We were able to maintain our setup into one city block, avoiding the closure of an intersection to build a long luffing jib. This resulted in significant time and cost savings to the customer.” Baraschuk says. “The biggest challenge is site congestion with a crane this large. When working in a downtown setting, you have got a lot of obstacles – you have public safety to be concerned about and numerous underground utilities as well.”

“We pride ourselves on having a fleet with industry leading technology and we have purchased a number of these units to capture new markets and niche jobs where you need a certain type and size of crane to perform,” adds Jeff Chernish, director of business development for Sterling Crane. “We provide efficient customer solutions similar in nature throughout Canada and we appreciate the visibility that this has brought us in Winnipeg.”

Tower 1 at 242 Hargrave Street is quickly approaching substantial completion, scheduled for the end of June 2018. It is comprised of retail and office space, and construction crews are currently focused on lobby finishes, amenity floor finishes, and mechanical, electrical, and elevator commissioning.

Tower 2 at 225 Carlton Street is scheduled to be completed a year from now. It contains some retail and office space but is predominantly comprised of residential rental suites. Construction teams are currently installing a high-performance glass curtain wall, after which internal finishes in the lobby and suites will become the focus, with an aim to welcome residents next spring.

Phase 2 of the project is a hotel and condominium complex being developed by Sutton Place Hotel & Residences. They aim to break ground this summer and be complete in 2020 or 2021.

Hercules SLR is part of the Hercules Group of Companies which offers a unique portfolio of businesses nationally with locations from coast to coast. Our companies provide an extensive coverage of products and services that support the success of a wide range of business sectors across Canada including the energy, oil & gas, manufacturing, construction, aerospace, infrastructure, utilities, oil and gas, mining and marine industries.

We have the ability to provide any solution your business or project will need. Call us today for more information. 1-877-461-4876. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter LinkedIn and Facebook for more news and upcoming events.